The Hubble Space Telescope has taken advantage of its beefed-up hardware to peer deep into the universe, spotting galaxies that existed just 600 million years or so after the big bang. In the image above, the faint, red objects are the most distant, but countless closer galaxies are discernible, as well.

The image comprises 48 hours of exposure time on Hubble's new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), stretched out over a four-day period in August. In May, shuttle astronauts paid Hubble what will likely be its final visit by Earthlings, installing WFC3 and repairing or replacing a number of other instruments and parts. With the space shuttle scheduled for retirement next year and no replacement astronaut launcher at the ready, NASA's hope was to maximize the telescope's longevity and scientific usefulness, giving it another five to 10 years of operational life.